It has been exactly one year since I left my professorship at the University of Miami.
During this time, I've been able to reflect on my tenure and the lessons I learned as the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Orange Umbrella.
Many of these lessons I am able to put into practice as a freelancer or within my own design & branding agency - Made in July.
But today, I want to expand on one of the lessons I learned that is specific to student-run agencies.
The Greatest Challenge
If you are a manager, professor, and/or practitioner overseeing a student-run agency on a college campus, it’s imperative to come to terms with your student-run business’ greatest weakness: high turnover.
It’s also imperative to realize that this weakness is inescapably built into the core of the business and always will be.
Even if students are able to take the course or participate more than once, a student-run business will always have a rotating door of talent because of one very simple fact baked right into the name - it’s student-run.
What Does High Turnover Look Like?
Although real businesses face employee departure and hiring challenges daily, it’s uncommon for them to experience a cyclical loss of 30-50% of talent every 4-6 months.
However, with a student-run business, high turnover is part of operations right from day one.
Turnover comes in many forms and is unique to how your student-run business is set up. In some cases, students leave for other job opportunities, passion projects, study abroad or internships. Sometimes students don’t have a great experience, so they choose not to come back. Sometimes the curriculum is built to cap students’ involvement at 1 - maybe 2 - semesters.
But the biggest source of turnover is graduation.
Not only is graduation unavoidable, but it often comes at the most inopportune time for a student-run business. Just when students reach their educational peak and become experts in their role, it’s usually time to say goodbye to the best and highest-trained students in your workforce.
Imagine running a business in which approximately 50% of your upper level management is replaced every 6 months.
It’s hard to fathom.
And it’s hard to sustain.
However, I believe it’s manageable.
How To Manage High Turnover
Here are three steps to take to combat high turnover in a student-run business:
- Recognize
- Reposition
- Remediate
Step #1 - Recognize
You have to face the fact that constant change in the workforce will always be part of a student-run business. Acknowledging turnover as an inherent characteristic of student-run businesses is the first step to managing it effectively.
But how do you do this exactly?
Pull the data and embrace the reality of the numbers. This will be specific to you and how your student-run business is set up. Track retention rate (or lack thereof) on a semester-by-semester AND year-over-year basis. The numbers may be ugly or dire, but as soon as you recognize the reality of what you’re up against, you’ll be better set up to succeed.
It is common for retention rate to hover around 25-40%. In some instances, student-run businesses start fresh every year or semester - so they’re looking at 0% retention rate - the toughest to overcome.
On the other hand, if your numbers average above the 50-60% mark, pat yourself on the back. Those are extraordinary and tip the scales a little bit more in your favor.
While at Orange Umbrella, I saw retention rates reach nearly 85%, a clear indicator of the positive impact Orange Umbrella was having on its students.
Once you have your data in hand, set an internal retention rate goal to strive towards each semester and each academic year. Keep this number in mind as you recruit and work with your staff.
Remember that retention rate goals should be based on how your agency is structured and set up. Answering these questions will help you figure out ideal retention goals:
- Is there a cap on how often students can return?
- Does your agency only hire Juniors and/or Seniors?
- Can students study abroad and come back?
- Are there credit or curriculum limits?
Step #2 - Reposition
Now armed with an arsenal of historical data and a goal to work towards, you need to transform these numbers into a strength that works on BEHALF of your agency.
Start by understanding why low retention rate data is a weakness in the first place. And to do this, you need to put yourself in your potential client's shoes. Most clients would be wary of hiring a real agency or a real business if they knew there was no consistency of thought over the course of their contract.
If you are a potential client of a student-run business, this is likely what you're thinking:
“Why should I hire this agency if brand new students will be working on my business in a few months, and I have to re-train them on my marketing goals or my industry every semester?”
It’s a valid argument.
But the rebuttal is: new students bring new ideas and those new ideas bring new solutions. In fact, what client wouldn’t love 2x or 3x the employees working on solutions for their business, all for the cost of 1x?
With each passing semester, that client is tapping into a whole new set of problem-solvers that can bring something fresh to the table that their predecessors didn’t.
Another way to look at this is: the only constant your student-run business can provide is change.
In other words, your business is rich with a steady flow of fresh talent and new ideas. And that idea is absolutely sellable.
So rather than begrudge “high turnover” as a negative aspect of your student-run business, instead sell the idea as access to an “unlimited pool of fresh talent." This will in turn allow you to leverage the business' weakness as a strength when pitching to potential clients.
Step #3 - Remediate
Lastly, you need to water down the onslaught of change with its nemesis: consistency. This step takes the most work but is the most important.
Take time to build repeatable protocols and consistent operations within your agency or business that provide steadfast guidance to all of your personnel.
How do you do this exactly? Put all non-negotiable best practices into a bank of easy-to-digest resources and make these Stand Operating Procedures (SOPs) available - and mandatory - for every single role & new hire to review.
These SOPs can take many forms and are not limited to:
- Training manuals
- Protocol decks
- Recorded Zoom sessions to serve as legacy tutorial sessions
- Historical documents
- Semesterly recaps of "learnings + opportunities"
- Job descriptions
- Templates and starter documents
- And more
The goal is for each element to clearly and distinctly outline your business’ best practices WITHOUT needing you to be there to walk your staff through them. This bank is your agency's gold mine. Be diligent. Be thorough. Be exhaustive.
Make training + resources one of the key pillars of your operations AND one of the areas you invest in the most. By doing so, you will arm your staff against the negative effects of high turnover and reap the rewards of consistency.
Yes, students may change, but how they respond to that email, how they write a creative brief, or how they present sales pitches will not.
Do you have any other tips to offset high turnover in a student-run business?
Let me know because I’d love to discuss!
